I called Target in Savannah and the front desk asked me immediately (after I asked for electronics) if this was in reference to the 360 -- I said yes -- and she said 'we won't be getting any shipments in until the end of the month'

In addition to my listing in Purge's Seeking 360 List, I've been doing my own legwork to see if I can save someone else the trouble. Despite scattered reports in my area that Wal*Mart and Best Buy have received their second shipments, I couldn't find one to save my life. Some of the sales representatives have gone so far as to say, "We're not going to be getting any in at all; we don't carry that any more." I've also had to give up on phoning around since, no matter how politely I phrase the question, I'm usually given a terse, "Out of stock!" and then swiftly hung up on.

The part that's really starting to bother me is that when these stores *are* getting new stock in, there are still people who are successfully buying two, three, four 360 units and then turning around to sell them on E*Bay. I get that people recognize a hot commodity when they see it and are taking advantage of the situation, but when someone who was desperately seeking a 360 for themselves suddenly posts that they found not only one, but also five more they can sell for a profit, it's extremely frustrating.

Unless some kindhearted people decide to give up a potential profit in order to fill some of the Christmas wishes in Purge's thread, I don't have any hope of finding a 360 for a good long time.

-Autistic Angel

I'm right there with you AA. I'm starting to actually get the rude treatment from retailers and customer service reps. I'm also seeing people post that they found some and gobbled them up so they could overprice them on ebay.

It's sad and anger inducing at the same time. I'm beating the trails trying to find one so my wife doesn't hae to agonize over my Christmas, but it's looking fruitless.

Do you work for Microsoft? If yes, I hate you. If no, I hate you still. You contribute nothing to this forum. All you do is piss and moan about Sony "fanbois." Go back to gamefaqs and grow the fuck up.

Plus I was told by Ebgames that any systems shipping would show up in their system 24 to 48 hours before they receive them in-store. Apparently as of this afternoon there were no such systems showing up in their computer system.

Did you guys really want to lure me into a political discussion on your nice clean gaming website?

The goal for victory is clear: a stable, survivable, and self-substainable democracy in Iraq. It is also acheivable. I know many guys there as I am from the home of the 3rd ID here in Savannah. They tell me directly that leaps and bounds of progress is being made there every day. They also say that the masses of the population there have absolutely nothing against the soldiers there, and actually bring them baked goods and gifts all the time. It's a relatively small percentage of people that are causing the problems -- some of them sunni former gov officials, some of them criminals out for financial gain, and some of them genuine terrorists.

We must finish this job so that the Iraqi forces can protect this precious gift of Representative government without our help. That is when victory will have been achieved.

Also keep in mind that Microsoft is not immune to overwhelming demand. Most hot product launches, be they consoles, movies, cars, ipods, etc... have a hard time keeping up with our mega-consumer based society.

Cars such as the Dodge Magnum, Volkswagen Beetle, Anything Hybrid sell at HUGE markups and 3+ month waits when they first went on sale.

The Apple iPod Mini also was a bitch to get a few Christmases back.

Every year there is a hot toy that does not meet demand, it happens.

Fuck, people get in line for HOURS to watch a movie, because they want to watch it at X time and the theater simply cannot accomodate that.

This is nothing new. It just now happens to be for something you want.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS: They are losing all the launch day hype and quick software sales. Now people will pick up their 360 preorder in 2006 and grumble and MAYBE buy one or two titles, instead of happily buying 4.

BTW -- Sony could score a killing blow at this point if they would surprise everyone with a blitz of PS3 announcements and promises of a summer launch. Unlikely I know.... but if they could pull that card out of their sleeve they would PWN Microsoft.

My wife is now officially pissed. She might pull the 360 on me and I'll have to wait until spring.

I just called 2 Walmarts -- none to be had.

I called Circuit City -- none.

I called Best Buy -- was told that they are being informed that there will be no more shipments until 2006.

I got nervous at that point and called Ebgames to find out the skinny on my lonely preorder on page 2 of their list and was told that they just received word from Microsoft that there would not be sending out the bulk of their systems until after the first of the year.

Duncan, I wished I had known bud because I got two and sold one to a guy at work at cost. I am also still on the fence about my other one. Have yet to open it (even though I have two games for it rented from gamefly). Just not sure it is worth the money. If I decide to not keep it, which I will in the next day or so, I will hit you up. It would be $488 plus shipping. I got one at EB with the extended warranty.

I will let you know.

Please do let me know if you decide not to keep it. My wife might very well buy it from you to give to me for Christmas (since this was going to be my Christmas present).

Not that anyone cares: I went by to find out if anyone knew when they'd get next shipment.

Went by Sears again just out of curiosity -- they still don't have their 360 stuff out. None of it.

Toys R Us -- Says they have no clue. They said they HOPE to be one of the very few stores to get an additional shipment this next week.

Target -- no idea.

Ebgames where I have my preorder: last week they told me that they thought I'd get my preorder before Christmas (good since it's my f**king Christmas present). Now they are telling me that Microsoft has stopped telling them ANYTHING, and that they have NO IDEA when they might get their next shipment or anything about how big it will be.

I'm REAL freakin close to canceling and waiting for Sony. This ***IS*** the worst launch ever.

I was going to say that it's brutal that people in general are selling these things on eBay, but it's justified by the buyers. If someone wants to pay three grand a system, let 'em. It's obviously a seller's market for the time being.

Awww -- bummer on the 360 (and I feel doubly bad since I was the one who suggested Sears)...

I was able to get lucky at Costco -- because I happened to drive by there on the way to Sears and saw that there was no line for 25 units vs. an unknown line for 4... This one hadn't occurred to me to try for real though until late last night.

No worries JLu. It was a good try. You had no way of knowing that Sears was going to allow a couple of their own employees buy up all the stock.

I can't wait to hear back from them via email or phone in response to my email.

Not quite seeing how this has anything to do with MS(the manufacturer). They have nothing to do with all the people lining up for the system(thats a choice those people made). And the rest is on the shoulders of Sears. Just because you had a crap experience at one retailer doesn't make it "The worst launch ever".

Ok... let's put Sears aside for a second (I already fired off a letter to corporate about my experience).

1. Dreamcast launch: plenty of systems to go around. Could be found on shelves immediately after release everywhere

2. Xbox -- readily available and all preorders filled

3. PS2 -- none on shelves but preorders all filled

4. Now this launch -- Not even a fraction of preorders filled and people told they wont get preorders from mid summer until JANUARY. None on shelves. None to be had.

How much will these be going for tomorrow? I have the 360 in my trunk (and stuck at work all day), so I have time to decide. I'm torn, I really want to play it now, especially Madden, but then I have a preorder at EB for the third shipment I can wait on. So, do I eBay what I have now? I think I'd sell it in a heart beat if it went for $800+, but I'm afraid prices will drop, and $100 profit isn't enough.

Set a reserve for your lowest acceptable amount. That way you have reassurance you won't lose your money or not get enough for it. Also set a 1 day auction because it's REAL hot right now and you don't want to give the market time to cool off.

And I'm sad because I've fought unsuccessfully to get one of these things. I F*CKing hate Microsoft after this! :x

I've been doing these things since Dreamcast days, and never have I seen a launch handled so poorly as this one by either distributer, retailer, or manufacturer.

We drove out at 5:30 this morning knowing that we'd find the obvious stores with lines. Best Buy easily had 50 people in line or more that had tents and had been there all night.

Target had 25 or more lined up outside the same way.

So we went to my Ace in the hole. Sears.As suggested by someone here... I scoped out Sears on Friday and asked them about the launch. I had a supervisor and employee jabber on for 15 minutes about the system telling me about the differences in the 300 and 400 bundle, etc.... They KNEW what they were talking about. They said they already had the systems in the back and couldn't sell them until Tuesday. They recommended I come in early Tuesday and I could probably get one.

So I went there. First one in line. We raced upstairs to electronics only to be confronted by a different manager (who had a nasty attitude) saying they had ZERO units. Never had any units. Didn't know WHEN they would have any units. I mentioned the other employees on Friday and he got VERY nasty and confrontational, acting like I was accusing him of lying. I was VERY nice and friendly until he went on and on about it (there were a bunch of other Sears employees standing around too). I FINALLY said: "Well SOMEONE is being dishonest to me -- either the supervisor and employee on Friday, or you!" . At this point he backed off a little and started saying how it was probably the REGULAR Xboxes those employees saw... etc etc etc. I finally said 'whatever' and left.

I've NEVER been treated that way in ANY store before. I've never been out right lied to before like that. I'm going to formulate a big nasty letter to Sears corporate, and you can write this down -- I will NEVER buy from Sears again. Ever.

I've been doing these things since Dreamcast days, and never have I seen a launch handled so poorly as this one by either distributer, retailer, or manufacturer.

We drove out at 5:30 this morning knowing that we'd find the obvious stores with lines. Best Buy easily had 50 people in line or more that had tents and had been there all night.

Target had 25 or more lined up outside the same way.

So we went to my Ace in the hole. Sears.As suggested by someone here... I scoped out Sears on Friday and asked them about the launch. I had a supervisor and employee jabber on for 15 minutes about the system telling me about the differences in the 300 and 400 bundle, etc.... They KNEW what they were talking about. They said they already had the systems in the back and couldn't sell them until Tuesday. They recommended I come in early Tuesday and I could probably get one.

So I went there. First one in line. We raced upstairs to electronics only to be confronted by a different manager (who had a nasty attitude) saying they had ZERO units. Never had any units. Didn't know WHEN they would have any units. I mentioned the other employees on Friday and he got VERY nasty and confrontational, acting like I was accusing him of lying. I was VERY nice and friendly until he went on and on about it (there were a bunch of other Sears employees standing around too). I FINALLY said: "Well SOMEONE is being dishonest to me -- either the supervisor and employee on Friday, or you!" . At this point he backed off a little and started saying how it was probably the REGULAR Xboxes those employees saw... etc etc etc. I finally said 'whatever' and left.

I've NEVER been treated that way in ANY store before. I've never been out right lied to before like that. I'm going to formulate a big nasty letter to Sears corporate, and you can write this down -- I will NEVER buy from Sears again. Ever.

Jacksonville, Florida -- more people in line at noon then they had systems to distribute.

Savannah, Georgia -- 28 people in line as of 1 pm this afternoon -- confirmed by my friend's mother who works for the police department and has been asked to send around officers at midnight for security reasons.

I hope there is a pile of hot coals in HELL for these executives at Microsoft to sit on. This STINKS. It's TERRIBLE. People want these systems, and they should have done enough to provide them. Dreamcast didn't have this problem -- the only people who have had this problem is every freakin launch since Sony started pulling this shit for publicity purposes.

Looks like the underside of my Christmas tree will be empty this Christmas since my preorder is likely not to come in until January. :x :x :x :x

My plan is taking shape: Walmart at 10pm the night before. If no dice, then I'll be at Best Buy at 8:00 or so in the morning of the 22nd to stand in line. If no dice there, it's a mad scramble to Target.

If no dice there... I have to pray to the gods that have blessed Hetz that my Ebgames preorder will come through before Christmas.